In today’s digitally connected network society (Castells/Gardoso 2005), the Internet has become an integral part of everyday life. Following the concept of mediatization (Hepp/Krotz 2014), communicating messages online pervades everyday life practices. Social media lead to flexible, dynamic action, which incorporates the generation, usage and reception of media content on multiple, partially overlapping levels. Communication interdependencies of producer, user and consumer have become networked interactions (Altheide 2013). Thus, this paper conceptualizes media logic as an inherent (inter)action logic. The questions are:
How can the underlying characteristics within interactional structures be grasped? Which (new) action spaces are shaped by the recipient? Which theoretical and empirical consequences arise from this perspective?
Based on two empirical case studies in Europe and the US, conceptual as well as empirical challenges are mapped out. This paper closes with potential solutions and presents further implications in the analysis of media logic as (inter)action logic.
Döveling, Katrin, (2015). Online Emotion Regulation. Why the kind of loss does (not) matter in Coping in Online Bereavement. 2nd International Death Online Research Symposium, Kingston University London, August 17th-18th 2015.
Bereavement as a deeply socially embedded process is closely related to a multitude of emotions. In this vein, previous research discloses that online sharing engenders transformational ‘emotional regulation’ (Gross 2008), which incorporates empathic interactions (Döveling 2014). Emotion regulation patterns disclosed similarities as well as differences in online bereavement of children, adolescents and adults. Extending the analysis, this investigation of digitally mediated grieving and memorializing goes one-step further. The research questions are:
Does online grief depend on the kind of loss? Does this type of loss (bereaved parents grieving over the loss of their child; bereaved children suffering the loss of a parent; widows grieving over losing a spouse) engender different forms of emotion regulation processes? Does age or gender matter as much as presumed? If so, what forms of emotion regulation come into play?
